Big-Wave Surfing: A Woman’s World, Too

Big-wave surfers have egos, but deep down, they are among the most humble athletes on earth. Most of them get no financial compensation for accomplishments that rank with the most dangerous in any sport. They’re routinely putting their lives on the line for nothing, beyond sheer love of the sport, and they’re just fine with that. Most of the time, only a few people know they’re even out there.

It is nice, however, to be recognized. Surfers along the two-mile stretch of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach were delighted to learn that Bianca Valenti, who considers that her favorite break, is among the nominees for Women’s Overall Performance in the annual Billabong XXL awards, to be announced Friday night at the Grove Theater in Anaheim.

Valenti, who lives in Mill Valley, has been charging Ocean Beach for years. As someone devoted to bodysurfing that spot over the last 20 years, I can attest to the challenge of getting through the relentless shorebreak and testing your limits out there. When I watched Valenti’s performance at the recent Nelscott Reef contest in Oregon, though, I realized that she’s on an entirely different level. That’s an even more treacherous spot than Ocean Beach, and in winning that prestigious event, she was taking on faces up to 30 feet with a stiff offshore wind in her face.

It was great stuff, enough to put her in some exclusive company for the XXL awards. The other nominees include two Brazilians, Andrea Moller and Maya Gabeira, plus Maui’s Paige Alms and the woman favored to win the prize, Hawai’s Keala Kennelly. Keala has been in relentless pursuit of big, nasty waves for years, and her crowning achievement — making it out of an inconceivably massive tube at Tahiti’s feared Teahupo’o — fell within this year’s Billabong eligibility window.

Whoever wins, Friday night will be a landmark event for women’s big-wave surfing, and long overdue. Once completely absent on the really big days in California and Hawaii, women are now making their mark at Ocean Beach, Maverick’s, Waimea Bay and Alms’ home break of Peahi (or “Jaws”) on Maui.

Northern California will be well represented at Friday’s awards ceremony. Shawn Dollar, the Santa Cruz surfer profiled in the Chronicle last December (a reluctant warrior, knowing his risk-taking missions place a strain on family life), has been nominated for Men’s Overall Performance and Paddle-In surfing (as opposed to tow-surfing), earning the latter nod for a massive wave he rode at Maverick’s last winter. And Ocean Beach regular Alex Martins is a candidate for Worst Wipeout, having taking a beaten so severe at Maverick’s, it forced him out of last year’s contest. (If you find this a dubious award, remember that surfers get ultimate respect for taking off on insanely big waves, no matter what the result.)

As for out-of-town surfers who make a point of surfing Maverick’s, there were nominations for Biggest Wave (Brazil’s Carlos Burle), Ride of the Year (Shane Dorian, Grant Baker and Greg Long), Paddle-In (Healey and Baker) and Overall Performance (Baker, Dorian, Long and Jamie Mitchell).